


Taxidermy

by Anonymous



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Compulsory Heterosexuality, Earth C (Homestuck), F/F, No actual taxidermy, Slow Burn, Yet.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:27:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29416359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Stuff a life to make it look like living. Jade and Aradia hang out.
Relationships: Jade Harley/Aradia Megido
Kudos: 3
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Stress writing Jadefic as a way to get back into homestuck. Can you believe this started as a solkat fic I started writing on a whim? Lol. I have big plans for this but they might be too big to finish so we'll see how far I get with this. Sick of sitting on this bit though. Who knows, we'll see how far I can plan/update it.
> 
> Set in epilogues world I guess but we're playing fast and loose w it because I honestly didn't have the patience to read through them all. We're cherrypicking folks
> 
> Also ooh let's see if I keep this summary. To be honest this is all very rushed so if I end up overhauling this I apologize. Let me know what you think! This is a trial run

Jade doesn’t get tired.

-is a funny little statement that she’d make if she wanted to be funny. See, she can make stupid little jokes too! Haha. In all seriousness though, it rankles more than she’d like to admit, sometimes, that people she’s close to, her friends and family both, don’t seem to realize just how exhausted she is as much as any of them. So what if she’s doing something about it and trying to claw out some semblance of a life in this new world of theirs. All her life has been an exercise in trying to ascertain the boundaries of caring in a way that was…right. She cares deeply for all her friends, for the people she loves, and very little for considerations of normalcy, and look where that got her. Dead and possessed and grieving and a million other unpleasant things that are best not ruminated over. Nothing gets fixed by thinking too hard about herself. Better to pour that energy into things that she can actually make an impact on. 

Like other people. God, Jade doubts she will ever tire of meeting other people. Chatting with the cashier while he rings up her order of a chai tea latte, laughing as he jokingly complains that she ordered the most complicated drink. Being pleasantly shocked when she gets a free pastry from him for nothing but gifting him company on a bad day. Standing in line to a bar and screeching along with the drunk gaggle of girls in front of her as they burst into a confused medley of Britney Spears’ complete discography (Jade’s not quite sure how old earth music transferred into present day Earth culture? But she’s not complaining). Browsing plants at her local nursery, and delightedly chatting with an old woman who gruffly asks for help with the proper care of succulents – she’s been thinking of buying one, she confides to Jade, but has never cared for one before and didn’t want to mess things up. Even the stupider, less pleasant parts of living in proximity with other breathing beings stick to some part of Jade like burrs, hitching rides to whatever new home they may find to eventually take root. It should be dizzying, all this contact after so long of nothing. Funny that it isn’t. 

There are jarring parts to getting to know people, though. Jade remembers the jolt of when she had first recognized it happening, sweating outside a house party, taking a break from the dancing and the humid air of a lot of people in a really fucking small space. She didn’t smoke much herself, but the scent of weed was hilariously comforting in the context of the setting, part and parcel signifier of people having a good time. Fit the scene like an old man scattering birdseed in a city park. She was giggling to herself about that image when the smell got stronger, and then someone was asking her, “Mind some company?”

Jade looked up to see someone with long, shaggy hair and a small grin. Their unpainted hand held the sputtering remains of a blunt, and they wore a low-cut, loose tank-top, one of those shirts with the sides cut so low that Jade could see the sides of their breasts where they weren’t wearing a bra. 

Jade smiled up at them and assented. To her surprise, they ended up talking for more than the few minutes she expected, beginning with who they knew at the party and trailing to their shared interest in botany. Her conversation partner attended a local community college, apparently, same as one of the hosts of the party, and was interested in biological diversity and plant immunology. They had grown up with a lot of plants, they admitted, with a grandmother who had been near obsessed with gardening. Their mother had been a busy person, so they bonded often as a child with their grandmother, who would take them out to the little standing army of chili plants outside and taught them how to watch for signs of withering and pick off predatory bugs. It was hard not to be interested after that, especially when their mother so easily caved to buying them all the books on plant life that they could afford. Jade had listened to their story, the awful fondness that lined their mouth like silvery paper and felt something lurch in her stomach at the familiarity. It got worse as they continued speaking together and Jade admitted that her grandpa had been similar, even if he died early in her life. Her partner had sat with that a moment. Jade was ready for whatever they would say. Condolences or flippant comments – she knew she wouldn’t let it sting, and would find comfort in talking about it at all. Eventually, they turned to Jade with reddened, dark-soft eyes and told her they’re glad that one of the last things her grandpa did was enable Jade’s love of plants, because loving something as much as Jade clearly did was a wonderful thing, and plants in particular were a lovely thing to love. 

Jade had kissed them that night. They had a good time together. They weren’t the first person to teach Jade how to suck something that some called a clit, but they had been one of her favorites to do it on. It turned out that they were too busy with schoolwork and Jade still too not ready to settle for it to work out permanently, but when they broke off the thing they had, it was done amicably, with parting kisses and laughter and promises to keep each other updated. Their name was Minsoo. Jade still messages them over social media every once in a while, actually. 

That happens several times, with varying strength in how deeply Jade is shaken by stumbling into a mirror where she expected another person. Another memorable moment is with a man named Trey, who laughed as sweetly as he kissed when Jade asked him how he cooked so well. He had told her that he had learned obsessively during a time of his life when it gave him a measure of control, because all there was to cooking was careful control over measures. Another time, it is with a woman named Elena, who blushed splotchy all down her chest when she spilled white over herself. They had been zoning out on Elena’s couch, unwilling to move after a rather hefty meal of pasta, when Elena had turned her head where it lay cradled on Jade’s shoulder and confessed to Jade that while she loved her cat dearly, it really didn’t beat laying next to another person. And littler things, too. There’s a troll who cursed her forebears in lieu of a deity when she came, because “Fuck those bastards.” A perpetual employee at the gardening center who lazily did the bare minimum to keep his job and his haggard supervisor who has long since accepted this as routine. Someone who had been placidly eating a sandwich near where Jade was eating her own meal, and had made the most comically woe-begotten face when they realized they’d eaten through the paper wrapping their food had come with. A child who had bumped into her, and had stared at her, wide-eyed, before solemnly telling her that Jade had ears just like their new puppy, and asked her if she hated the mailman as much as their puppy did. 

Each time, Jade feels something wrench almost viciously inside of her, if something so bright and (generally) happy could be vicious as well. This could be a redemption, she would think if she were the type of person to think much about things like redemption in the first place, getting to hold every person she meets in some way, even if only in her gaze. But Jade is not that kind of person, and Jade wakes up in the morning tired sometimes, like normal people do. And Jade is not the kind of person who believes in things as simple as the idea that people can be broken, but she does sometimes feel like she learned too well how to hunt and too little about how to stop. 

And sometimes, a pretty life with pretty, round edges sounds nice.

\--

Jade really wants that pretty life with the round wheels or whatever the hell she had said right about now. Unfortunately, because the universe or Paradox Space or destiny or whoever she’s told is running the behind the scenes nowadays hates her, so instead she gets to stare down her own dead body while one of her best friends and boyfriend does the shittiest imaginable job comforting her. 

“Dave,” Jade has a hard time recognizing her own voice, as strained as it is. “You are really, really bad at this.”

If Jade could spare it, she would feel bad about how immediately Dave starts rambling in response. As it is, she just feels a bit exasperated, and then bad for feeling exasperated. “Shit, sorry, I guess I just forgot this isn’t, like, normal? For basically anyone who isn’t me. It’s cool though, really, Jade, you must’ve seen dead Jades in the dreambubbles or whatever the fuck during the game. They’re not really you, more like just a reflection of you that might’ve been, with only tangential realness credentials. It’s sort of like that, you know, just taking up actual physical space, which I guess makes almost more sense for you cause of the whole space thing – oh, ok, no, backtracking, so that’s not as funny as it sounded in my head– “

Dave’s tangent is mercifully cut short by a loud shout from across the cathedral, which is an expansive six feet away. Jade doesn’t know why she turned to look, but it’s a good distraction from her corpse. It’s Karkat. Obviously. He looks like he’s ready to physically launch himself at the trolls who have just arrived, particularly the rather tall, gangly one with the bad bangs. From the sounds of it, he’s gotten so angry that he’s circled back to nonverbal, and is making choked sounds of impotent rage at his…friends? The tall troll looks kind of uncomfortable, and maybe a little bored? Which, what the hell? Jade isn’t so upset that she’s as offended as she thinks she would be if this were her…present body’s funeral, but still. Rude. The one who kept talking about having a party with Jade’s dead body is just watching the other trolls with a vaguely interested expression, though her gaze keeps flicking over to the open casket, clearly much more invested in the dead body than whatever conflict is happening between her living friends. The next time the troll lifts her eyes from the casket, her gaze meets Jade’s – living Jade’s. Jade holds it, too surprised to look away. The troll gives a little smile and turns back to say something to Karkat, which actually manages to stop him entirely, though by the expression on his face, it’s a momentary respite borne of shock. Jade keeps looking in her direction for a moment longer. 

She’s brought back to the present when Dave suddenly freezes beside her. Jade blinks at this new distraction and asks, “Dave?”

“Uh, I think – um. I think I’m going to go check on Karkat, he’s looking…I think he’s actually really upset-“

Jade has half a second to feel some weird mix of resignation and bitterness, then her corpse sits straight up, and Jade loses track of things for a little while.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> getting a feel. for how to write each char

Somehow, Aradia and Jade begin talking. Jade can’t say she loves the way it began – right after her deceased body revealed itself to be possessed and an unwilling harbinger of yet more bullshit. Jade had been testy, the damper of attending her own funeral made worse by the absurd framing of it all; it made it hard to give her own discomfort weight and credence, like the situation was too ridiculous for anything but levity. Karkat had stormed out of the church after his confrontation with his old friends, and Dave had peeled away from Jade’s side soon after in pursuit, exiting the church as well to leave Jade standing alone with the bouquet of flowers for her dead body. 

So it wasn’t with the best of moods that Jade had received Aradia sidling up to her casually and saying, “So the party’s for your corpse, right?”

“I don’t know why you keep calling it a party, but yes.” Jade had grit. 

“It’s a party.” Aradia had said decisively, eyes bright while she gave a little nod. “You’ve got all these people here, everyone’s in special clothing, someone gives a speech – that’s a party if I’ve ever heard of one.”

“Doesn’t feel like much of a party to me.”

“Well maybe you just haven’t been going to the right parties. That’s alright though, I get that it isn’t everyone’s thing, despite what Sollux likes to say. You’re Jade, right?”

Jade had blinked, surprised the other girl had known her name. “Yes. Why?”

“Just wanted to know who the woman of the hour was.” Aradia had glanced at her quickly from the corner of her eye before turning back to the casket. “Wanted to offer my congratulations.”

“Again. Don’t really see what there is to congratulate about.”

“It’s a celebration, isn’t it? Maybe you do funerals differently than we do – don’t look at me like that, of course I know what a funeral is, I just think corpse party is a funner way to put it – but isn’t part of it still celebrating the person at the center of it all? Bummer that you got the limelight stolen from you by a hijacking space ghost, but hey, your body: I think you can still take credit for that.”

Jade had heaved out a sigh. “Sure. I guess. Just – is it really so hard to believe that looking at my own dead body is not as easy to get over as everyone seems to think it is? I get that this was apparently a common experience for everyone during the game, but it’s not like I really got a chance to experience the same thing. Kinda hard to overcome a knee-jerk dislike for being faced with your own mortality when you’re, like, possessed. Or asleep. For most of major events that everyone else apparently went through.”

Jade distinctly remembers the considering noise Aradia had made at that, seeming to genuinely think it over. And then her response: 

“That’s fair. Can’t say I particularly liked being dead either. Still think it’s a shame though. You don’t have to be comfortable with death to get something out of it, even your own. That’s what a funeral is, you know? A celebration of life, not death really.” Aradia had glanced at Jade briefly out of the corner of her eye. “I might not know you, but most people have something to celebrate about their life. You don’t seem to be that different in that regard.” 

Jade hadn’t found the comment to be as absolutely offensive as it could’ve been, and in her bad mood, it had irritated her that she had found it such. She may or may not have snapped something and left the other girl huffily – though not until after a period of silence where Jade couldn’t find her words. 

They don’t meet again until weeks later, at the farmer’s mart of all places. Aradia is browsing through the subsection of stalls that sells antiques and oddities, Sollux looking bored to the side. He’s got a lemonade though, so Jade figures it can’t be all bad.

Aradia notices Jade and perks up, waving. Jade makes her way over, hefting her selection of vegetable sprouts onto one hip as she does.

“Hey, Jade!” Aradia grins. “You’ve already bought something?”

“Yeah, I come to the farmer’s mart pretty often – sometimes they have some really unique options, if they’re not trying to market to university freshman who are looking for something to decorate their room for a month before they forget to water it and have to throw it out.”

Aradia looks a bit puzzled by Jade’s explanation, but seems to accept it, simply nodding in response. 

“Sollux and I are looking through some of the old stuff they’re selling.” Aradia says enthusiastically.

“You are looking through some of the old shit they’re selling.” Sollux interjects, sipping sullenly at his lemonade. “AA, don’t pretend, we both know I’m just here because I have nothing better to do.”

“And I appreciate the wonderful company you provide.” Aradia responds dryly. “Couldn’t you bother Karkat or something if you really wanted?”

Sollux somehow gives the impression of rolling his eyes while having both eyes completely covered. “He doesn’t exactly seem to want anything to do with either of us, last I checked. Hell, he’s survived this long without us, I’m sure he’s fine without either of us bothering him on Earth 3.0.”

“Oh, don’t listen to Karkat.” Jade can’t help but say. “You know how he is. He might make a big fuss, but I don’t think he’s really unhappy seeing any of his old friends again. Well, unless you snapped and killed a bunch of people? He’s a big pushover, but even he’s got his limits apparently.”

At Sollux’s unconvinced expression, Aradia sighs and offers, “Kanaya? You like Kanaya.”

“Everyone likes KN. Also, this is all pointless anyway when I don’t know where anyone lives. You guys trying to get rid of me that badly?”

“I have their addresses.” Jade says. “I can give them to you guys so you can visit them whenever.”

“Really not my point.”

“We’re not trying to get rid of you, you big baby.” It’s Aradia’s turn to roll her eyes. “But to be honest I think it’d be good for you to talk to other people. Or it can’t hurt, at the very least. Come on, Sollux, don’t you want to know what’s been going on while we were gone? I mean, Karkat seems so different now!”

“Literally what are you talking about. He’s the same angry little stub as he’s ever been. The first thing he did when he saw us was shout about it for three minutes straight.”

“Well yeah, but you can’t tell me you didn’t notice that he was…different! I don’t know, I wasn’t as close to him as you were, so maybe I’m wrong, but…”

Sollux makes an aggrieved noise and waves Aradia off from where she had been batting at his head increasingly aggressively. “Fine, fine. I’ll go drop by and get my aural clots blown out for ‘old time’s sake’ or whatever. But later.”

“Fine by me.” Aradia says, turning back to Jade with a grin. “Wanna show us around? I found the stalls I like best, but if you’re a regular here you probably know all the fun stuff we haven’t found yet.”

Jade blinks. She feels her face warm slightly, remembering the way they had met back at her casket, and the way she had brushed off Aradia. “You sure?”

“Yeah? Sollux is just going to spend the rest of the time bitching anyway, so you’d be really saving me to be honest.”

“Wow, AA.”

Aradia just laughs, and it hits Jade how comfortable they are with each other. Their back and forth is smooth, and despite their words, they clearly want to spend time in each others’ presence. Jade bites her lip. 

“Jade? You don’t have to if you don’t want; I just thought I’d ask. Just seemed like a good opportunity.” Aradia grins at Jade. 

“Yeah,” Jade says, smiling back. “I’m down. Anyone who’s new around here should get a chance to experience the farmer’s mart at its best. You have to show me where you got that lemonade though – I’m not playing tour guide for free!”

\--

After that, they start hanging out more. Aradia is curious about everything, and seems especially curious about Jade. After what ends up being a really good day at the farmer’s mart, where Aradia memorably discovers that she really, really likes spicy food during lunch from the street taco truck, they exchange contact info. Turns out the second thing Aradia and Sollux had done upon landing was get their hands on some sort of working technology, pushed along by Sollux, who had bemoaned that the only bad part of their years long vacation in the dream bubbles was the lack of access they had to any kind of good technology. 

Jade had given them her address as well, letting them know that they could drop by whenever they wanted to visit her – or Karkat. 

“He lives in the same hive as you?” Sollux had asked, eyebrows high on his forehead. 

“Yeah. We’ve been dating a couple years now, so we figured I should just move in when I was basically over there most of the time anyway.” 

The reaction that had gotten. Good god. Jade might as well have told them that Karkat had taken a vow of polite speech and hadn’t cursed in five years. Or that he had run away to join the local circus. Or something. Sollux choked on his own spit, and had to be pat on the back by Aradia after she had gotten over her own wide-eyed surprise. For once, Aradia hadn’t asked that many questions, though she did stare at Jade a lot, which was normal, actually, but the way she had stared seemed different. Jade supposes it has been a long time since they had seen their old friend. From what Jade knew, Karkat hadn’t really had any romantic relationships during the game or before it, other than some messy not-thing with Terezi that he seemed embarrassed to talk about. Jade had to confirm to Sollux three times that yes, she was dating Karkat. No she was not being bribed or doing it out of a misplaced sense of – well, not pity, since the Alternian connotations of that word were a bit. Not right. But she wasn’t just doing it for him. Yes, she thought he was cute. Sollux had opened his mouth to say something at that, but shut it just as quickly, grumbling when Aradia had outright guffawed and elbowed him in the ribs, clearly laughing at him about some inside joke between them. 

“Geez, if you guys are so interested by me dating Karkat, I guess I should let you know that I’m dating Dave as well.” Jade had said, a bit exasperated. She got blank stares for her efforts.

“The other human guy I hung around at my…corpse party? Dumb shades, bleached hair?” Jade tries.

“Isn’t that the guy that went after KK after you broke him so hard he left the fucking building, AA?”

“I didn’t mean to.” Aradia said, sounding a little regretful actually. “I didn’t think he’d find it that upsetting.”

“AA, you told him that you were disappointed that he wasn’t the one in the casket.”

“I meant that I would’ve been stoked to attend his corpse party! Not that I wanted him dead!”

Overall, they’re less interested by Jade’s relationship with Dave than they were in the fact that Karkat was dating anyone at all, apparently. Aradia did ask a few polite questions (for her) about it though, which Jade answered happily, appreciative of the acknowledgement. 

The next time they meet, Aradia is the only one there. Sollux, Aradia explains, is deep in a project apparently, and declined meeting today, though he does send his apologies about it. Jade had been skeptical, but Aradia had reassured her that he really had felt bad – apparently, Jade had been dubbed “pretty cool” by his standards, and “a hell of a lot less annoying than most of our friends.” Aradia had almost pushed it anyway, but it had been a while since she had seen him so deeply engrossed in something again. It felt wrong to force him out when she hadn’t even expected him to latch onto anything on Earth, Aradia explained.

They didn’t do anything fancy, just sat in a café and talked. Sometimes they people watched, and Jade fought between frantically doing damage control when Aradia said something wildly alarming about the people that were very much within hearing distance around them and just letting it happen to enjoy the carnage. Once Aradia had caught onto the game, Jade tended towards the latter, honestly too used to feeling the same in public with either of her boyfriends. With anyone important in her life, to be honest. There were few people she knew who didn’t have the tendency to say some wildly inappropriate shit in public with little care or foresight for the impact it might have. Aradia was fascinated by her bubble tea, and asked what flavors the tapioca pearls came in. Jade had rattled off the most common ones she knew, explained a bit about the other toppings you could put in the drink. Aradia had hummed, then said that she had heard of (but never had) a similar confectionary on Alternia, but with pearls made of genuine troll blood. It had been a highblood delicacy, Aradia explained while Jade sat frozen with a mouthful of tapioca, and they didn’t really eat the bubbles, Aradia was pretty sure. It was just another way to flaunt their social status. After all, they weren’t rainbow drinkers. Jade had managed to find some way to squeak a considering noise while Aradia continued to sip happily at her drink. It was a good time. 

They had arranged to go to a natural history museum for their next outing. Sollux hadn’t confirmed whether he’d be there, but Aradia had practically shot into the sky with excitement once Jade had explained what the museum was. The museums on Alternia were painful, apparently, and for once not (just) in a literal sense. So were most of the ones on Earth, to be quite honest. But there were bits and pieces to get out of some of them, especially these reformed museums. And Aradia had been excited by any history she could get her hands on. 

Jade told Dave and Karkat about her plans over dinner (cooked by Karkat, who had recently started bullying Jade out of the kitchen, saying something about finally having fresh ingredients for the first time in years and taking advantage of it. Jade had put up a token fight, but had honestly been relieved. She cooked well, and it could be fun, but doing it all the time had really started to take a toll on her. She had other projects she wanted to dedicate time to, and cooking so consistently for three was a bigger drain on her than she had expected. She doesn’t even remember why she started. Why did she start?). Dave looked startled, and asked who the hell Aradia was. Karkat was similarly startled, and asked since when Jade had been talking to those fuckers. 

“They were at the farmer’s market when I went the other day. We talked and they were pretty fun!” Jade said in between attacking her food in mouthfuls.

“I wouldn’t describe either of them as ‘fun.’” Karkat said flatly. “That implies a sense of lightheartedness and whimsy that neither of them really have.”

“From what I’ve heard, Sollux was your best friend back in the day. Why’d you hang out with him if he wasn’t fun?” Jade raised an eyebrow. 

“Hey, lots of people are entertaining to hang out with without being ‘fun.’” Dave interjected, pointing his fork Jade’s way. “I mean just look at Rose. I love her, but you can’t tell me that you’re friends with her because of her stellar ability to bring joy and uncomplicated laughter into your life.” 

Jade stared at Dave. Some of her cutlet dropped from her fork. “I am, actually. Do you really not think Rose is fun??”

“Um.”

“Dave. I mean, she’s funny, I know you know that too but. Dave, she still thinks the peak of comedy is drawing glasses and mustaches on unexpected places.”

“Karkat, back me up here.”

“I’m not getting into any conversation about the relative fun rating of any Strilonde. But honestly, Jade’s got a point. Lalonde is a terrifying and frustrating walking antithesis to casual, normal conversation, but she has never once been anything even close to boring. And honestly, my boundaries for that were irreparably fucked anyway after meeting Dirk. Even Aradia at her worst was a fucking fountain of irrepressible cheer compared to your ‘bro.’” Karkat said, using both hands to make exaggerated scare quotes.

“Okay, well, nothing’s a fair comparison to Dirk. Man has issues.”

“You have issues.”

“What I think I’m hearing,” Jade interrupts, surfacing from finishing the rest of her dinner. “Is that I’m right, and you all owe me five bucks for it.” 

That sets off an argument that lasts all the way through cleaning up. It’s a good meal. Jade goes to sleep that night warmed by the companionship. She loves the people she’s met on Earth C. But she is glad even still for her oldest friends – the very first people that she learned to love, and the uniqueness of a bond that entails a shared history, for better or worse. 

So long as she has that safety net, Jade thinks as she turns to settle in further into the pillow, there is no danger in reaching out towards the new.


End file.
